Help with the HEIDI online catalogue of the University Library Heidelberg Search
Choice of the branch library
Within HEIDI, you can select your preferred branch library. You will see which items can be 1) borrowed, 2) ordered for borrowing or viewing, or 3) can only be used on-site.
Your chosen branch library is displayed in the menu bar and can be changed at any time.

Simple search
‘Simple search’ consists of a single entry field, similar to those used in Internet search engines. All terms entered will be searched simultaneously. The following search fields are included in the search:
- Person
- Title
- Keyword
- Publication year
- ISBN
- Corporate body

Advanced search
Advanced search’ consists of three input fields that allow a combination of different search terms. The fields can be modified via drop-down menus. The ‘search hints’ offered for the various search terms will change accordingly.
When combining the search fields, you can choose between the operators ‘and,’ ‘or,’ and ‘not.’
‘Simple search’ and ‘Advanced search’ both use the same pool of data

Options and search functions
Index
Many search categories in “Advanced search” are indexed, so you can browse before importing the correct term into your search.
Options
With 'Options,' you can limit a search to the collection of a specific institute or seminar. By default, the entire collection of the Heidelberg library system is searched.
If you uncheck the 'Complete' box, you can deactivate the suggested search. You can also adjust the number of results displayed per page using the 'Display' option.

Suggested search
When entering a search term, suggestions for completing it will appear, drawn from the relevant index. You can browse this list of suggestions using the up and down arrows on your keyboard. Pressing 'Enter' will insert the selected term into the search field.
The 'Suggested search' can be deactivated by unchecking 'Complete' in the 'Options' menu (see above).

Boolean Operators
If more than one search term is entered into a search field, they will automatically be combined using the Boolean operator AND. Other Boolean operators, such as OR and NOT, can also be added.
- OR
This finds titles where either one term, the other term, or both terms appear. This allows for searching synonymous terms or terms in different languages simultaneously.
Example: nightingale OR rossignol - NOT
This finds titles where only the first term appears, and not the second, thus narrowing the search.
Example: Heidelberg NOT romanticism - AND
This finds titles where both search terms appear. The result is the intersection of both terms, narrowing the scope of the search. The AND operator is set by default in HEIDI and does not need to be manually entered.
Example: goethe schiller
In the “Advanced search,” the three search fields are also linked by default using the AND operator. You can change this to OR or NOT using the pull-down menus.
Truncation
Truncation allows for different forms of a search term by using a wildcard to represent various combinations of characters. The wildcard is represented by the asterisk symbol (*), and it can be used starting from the third character.
Example: attract will retrieve “attractive,” “attracts,” “attracted,” etc.
Phrase Search
To avoid retrieving too many results, you can perform a phrase search in the “All Fields” category. If you place your search terms in quotation marks, the search will consider the exact word sequence.
Alternatively, you can select an appropriate search category, such as “Initial Title Element,” “One-Word Titles,” or “Journal Titles.”